Welcome back, Donist World Denizens! For those of you new to our site, I’m Donist, and I am joined by Donist World CFO the Reverse Obie* (my friends’ Boston terrier whose fur recently swapped colors) and by our marketing director/administrative assistant/party planner/still-acting-as-nurse Tulip (my dog, Reverse Obie’s sister). After two weeks of this stupid sickness, I think I’m about over it thanks to the diligence of my puppy executive team who’ve brought me tissues and cough drops and plenty of hot toddies to help work the ickiness out of my system. They queued up episodes of
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,
The Walking Dead S8, and the grand rewatching of
Game of Thrones, and sat with me as we read through the massive
The House of Secrets: The Bronze Age Omnibus Vol. 1 tome they got me for my birthday. All of this, while tirelessly working to maintain our status as a Fortune 320,000 company. Not. Too. Shabby. Anyhow, be kind to each other, mind your health and sanity, eat some tacos, keep your pets safe, cherish the ones you love, hydrate, and read some great comics. Thank you for reading!
*Obie, through his dabbling in arcane magiks mixed with ancient corrupt business practices, has had not just the colors of his fur switched, but a complete overhaul of his work ethic as well…I think I’m kinda okay with the mishap.
Not sure what “Comics Lust” is about? Take a look at the
Introduction to “Comics Lust” post or take a look at the static “
Comics Lust Table of Contents” page to jump to a topic.
Comics Lust
It Ain’t Over ’til This Comic Book Sings - Space Operas (Part 1)
Space Operas are my jam, my jelly, my peanuts, and my peanut butter. I love ’em, by golly, and I thank my stars and garters there’s no lack of material out there to keep me drawn in with happy reading for a good long while. Now, for those thinking,
uh oh, here he goes again on that master of the space opera Jim Starlin, I’m sorry to disappoint, but I’m not going to go into Starlin’s work here. Nope. The guy already has his own section of adoration (
see this post here), not to mention tons of mentions throughout “Comics Lust”, so we’re going to instead take a look at some other creators and their lovely, expansive worlds, galaxies, and universes, as well as the characters who traverse them.
(Written by Jeff Lemire, illustrated by Dustin Nguyen, lettered and designed by Steve Wands, originally published in 2015 by Image Comics)
Yes. I know. I have a tendency to extol the brilliance that is Lemire and Nguyen’s phenomenal Descender, and it is safe to say I’m not shy about my love of this series. The story begins on the day the nine planets of the United Galactic Council are devastated by massive robots called Harvesters that vanish as quickly as they arrived with no reason for the deaths they caused. This leads to any and all robots being hunted and destroyed by fierce Scrappers, but when a lone robot boy named TIM-21 awakens after being offline for ten years on a dead mining colony, everyone in the galaxy sets their sites on capturing him. TIM-21 might hold the key to learning the mystery of the Harvesters, but all TIM-21 wants is to survive and find his human brother Andy. There’s no shortage of robots, aliens, spaceships, or monsters in this compelling odyssey that will both thrill and at times break your heart as many secrets are slowly revealed in this
32-issue first chapter. Lemire’s writing alone breathes such life into the characters that you feel you know them by the end of the first issue, but when coupled with Nguyen’s lush, lovely, watercolored character designs and expansive backgrounds, you can’t help but have one of the best books on the stands. The series is currently on hiatus until early 2019 when the second—and very different—second chapter starts, so you have some time to pick up either the
hardcover (another on the way?) or the
six trades and get caught up on this stellar series.
(Written by Geoff Johns and Dave Gibbons; illustrated by Ivan Reis, Patrick Gleason, Angel Unzeta, and Ethan Van Sciver, originally published in 2007 by DC Comics)
I can’t claim to have ever been a Green Lantern superfan. Don’t get me wrong, I always liked the guy and his goofy green creations as a kid, but I never really sought out comics about him. This changed the day I flipped through an issue of Green Lantern after seeing Sinestro’s striking new costume and the eye-catching “Sinestro Corps War” title on the cover. I totally knew who Sinestro was and always thought it was a cool idea to have an antagonist whose yellow ring countered Hal’s, but here he was on this cover, no longer the big-headed cornball I knew as a kid. No. Sinestro was now in his intimidating new outfit with his own fear-based army of monstrous evildoers; Green Lantern was now very much on my radar. But true to me being me, I couldn’t just dive in. I needed to know
everything, so I picked up the
first four Green Lantern trades and
then bought the two
Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War trades and was hooked by the promise of the new ring spectrums and the stakes of this monstrous new threat facing the galaxy. Johns made this series can’t-put-it-down great, and I stayed along for the ride through
Blackest Night. With the mountain of spacefaring destruction and chaos out there in the Green Lanternverse—most of it tremendous, btw—“The Sinestro Corps War” stands strongest of them all. Dang, now I HAVE to reread them. If you’re a fan of space operas, you need to start this impressive journey from a decade ago ASAP. You can go my route by starting with Johns’s first issue on the character all the way through to the end of “The Sinestro Corps War” with the lovely
Green Lantern by Geoff Johns Omnibus Vol. 1 or skip to the main course with the
Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War all-in-one trade.
(Written by Tom King, illustrated by Barnaby Bagenda and others, originally published in 2015 by DC Comics)
The Omega Men was the second book written by Tom King that I was exposed to. Or rather it was the first book of his I read that was written solely by him;
Grayson, co-written with Tim Seeley, was my first. After that I hammered through his other work, especially loving both of his critically acclaimed, must-read
The Vision and
Mister Miracle series.
The Omega Men, however, is equally deserving of praise as this planet-hopping statement on extremism, propaganda, terrorism, media optics, and so much more is one of the favorites of my collection. Here, the terrorists known as The Omega Men, have captured the White Lantern Kyle Raynor (formerly a Green Lantern) and on live television seemingly execute him. Never fear, Denizens, Kyle’s fine…sort of. Rather he is the Omega Men’s prisoner and they mean to bring him over to their cause of destroying the totalitarian Citadel and its tyrannical ruler Viceroy. The White Lantern will have to decide not only if the horrors committed by the Citadel are worth breaking his oath of non-interference, but if adopting the Omega Men’s methods will destroy the man he believes himself to be. I always wanted to read the original
The Omega Men from way back in the day, but never got around to it. That said, you don’t need to know what happened in that series to completely lose yourself in this intense, political, space opera that must be part of your collection. The
all-in-one trade is what you want to get, and let’s hope we someday get a hardcover of this impressive masterpiece.
(Written by Brian K. Vaughan, illustrated by Fiona Staples, originally published in 2012 by Image Comics)
The title alone lets you know you’re in for something truly epic. The original solicits gave the logline of “Romeo and Juliet in space,” which is spot on as far as descriptions go. Mario and Alana are of differing, warring races: one whose people has horns and possess great magic abilities, and another whose people are winged and have access to deadly technologies. Despite their people’s intense hatred for one another, the two fall in love, go on the run, and have a baby girl, Hazel, who has both horns and wings. The fact that peace and love can exist together must never get out to the warring masses and the new family must evade assassins and bounty hunters, and all sorts of malcontents as they travel the galaxy in search of somewhere, anywhere, to live without fear or war or being discovered. Unfortunately, family, robots with TVs for heads, angry ex-girlfriends, and money woes pose just as much of a threat of tearing them apart as the war. I must warn you, Denizens, that you will fall in love with these characters. You will love them and get pissed off at them when they screw up. You will laugh out loud, you will be disgusted and shocked in the best of ways, you will cheer at the various characters’ victories, and sympathize with their setbacks. You will also have your heart and soul crushed by various events throughout the 54-issue first season. Vaughan’s story and characterization are enchanting, and Staples’s unique art style gives an almost painterly quality that has always confounded me as to how she does what she does and she makes every page worth lingering over.
Saga is a beautiful thing, Denizens, and I can honestly say no comic has elicited so many emotions in me as I accompanied Marco, Alana, and Hazel on this wonderful journey. The book looks to be on hiatus until probably late 2019, so now is the time to get caught up with the
two hardcovers (third on the way?) or the
nine readily-available trades.
Saga is a phenomenal story on all fronts and very much deserving of your time, just be ready for one hell of an emotionally tumultuous ride.
Dang, I love this genre, and can’t wait to (re)introduce you to even more of these fantastic space opera comic books. I’m excited to dig into some more, but that’s for next time.
Comics Lust 11/10/2018
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